The Price of Feathers

The tournament continued. Skin had fallen at the hands of Godric and each team only had 4 members on the battlefield outside of their leaders. The once-lush arena was stained with blood, the air thick with smoke and lamentations for the fallen.

Silver stepped into the arena opposite a hulking minotaur wielding a brutal war axe. Still hindered by his injuries from the last round, he knew this fight would test the very limits of his strength and endurance. With narrowed eyes, she flourished his blades, determined to prevail, or die with honour. He was determined to return to his pack with his pride intact.

The minotaur charged with a ground-shaking roar, axe swinging in wide, deadly arcs. Silver rolled and darted beneath the attacks, wincing as his damaged ribs protested sharply. A glancing blow from the minotaur sent him sprawling, fresh blood flowing from reopened wounds. As the massive minotaur moved in for the kill, Silver realised he had no escape - this was his end. He stared defiantly up at the monster, ready to meet his fate.

Suddenly, a fountain of flames engulfed the minotaur, dropping it and shrieking to its knees. Silver's head whipped around to see Raven descend from the stands, eyes blazing red, claws extended. With ruthless efficiency, she charged at Godric, and the adrenaline caused her wings to break out of her back, transformed mid-air and stood between the two men in full dragon form.

Silver stared up at Raven in wonder and gratitude. But as their eyes met, Silver knew he was wrong about her. Silver opened his mouth to thank her, but she shook her head. Despite being a dragon, he understood what she was trying to say.

Silver felt the guilt bottle up in his gut as he watched the 3-metre-tall dragon lead her teammate away. He felt like shit.

Both sides had lost members, and the fight showed no sign of slowing down any time soon.

Aphrodite managed to sneak across the barren battlefield arena alone, the sandy dunes, and snuck into the canyon where Angelica was hiding. She was not alone. Amara heard her mental plan and followed her because she didn't want to leave her sister alone in her last moments.

She needed to make sure that Raven didn't get hurt in the crossfire.

Silver and Dagne were scouting for Godric and Vex. Amara knew that Tinkerbell would always stick with Angelica.

They made it across the dunes to find Tinkerbell and Angelica plotting, but as soon as Aphrodite took a step towards the Light leader, Tinkerbell spun around and shot an energy blast towards the succubus, who only managed to miss it because Leech swiftly pulled her away from the blast.

Angelica took to the skies, raining luminous destruction down upon her enemies. Amara deflected her sister's blows with shields of fire on the ground, struggling to overcome her magic but doing so to protect her teammates. Meanwhile, the commotion drew Silver, Dagne, Godric and Vex towards the commotion.

They fought head-on from opposite sides of the canyon. Silver was not as fast due to his previous injury, and Leech received a shot to the leg from Vex's telekinetic stone shot. Aphrodite turned her attention towards the trickster to defend her love. She was fully out of her depths because he swiftly uses another serrated rock to slash her throat. Leech yells out and uses his super speed to rush at the trickster, using his strength to punch out the pink-haired man's heart. The blood-pumping organ falls to the ground and deflates on the sand.

Vex falls to his knees. With Aphrodite, Leech and Vex all dead, Raven decides to step in. She's still in dragon form, Godric and Tinkerbell at her back, and Dagne's green dragon form visible across the sandy plane. Silver forced himself to get over his pain to aid his team and win the only true battle that counts.

Back and forth, the battle raged, both sides fighting relentlessly to the limits of exhaustion. Slowly, the Dark gained the upper hand through attrition, surrounding a drained Angelica.

The Dark team attacked in a unity they hadn't shown in months, but Raven refused to let anyone else die. All eyes turned up to see Raven descending, wreathed in an inferno of blue flame, scales shining purple-black.

Landing protectively before Angelica, Raven unleashed scorching torrents of fire, forcing back the stunned Dark team members. None could stand before her primal fury, fuelled by her determination to save her friends.

With a feral scream, Raven slammed her spiked tail down, ripping a chasm through the arena floor straight toward Amara and Aphrodite. Dagne met her in the sky, and the pair stared at each other head-on. The pair barely rolled aside in time as the gaping fissure exploded, Ancient magic destabilising the dimensional realm itself.

Chaos reigned as howling vortices opened in the sky above. Artemis shouted desperately for order, but his power waned, and Raven's unleashed force ruptured his control.

That's what she wanted she ascended to meet Artemis's life.

Raven gazed down at each of her beloveds face. "My life for theirs."

Artemis sat back in his hovering purple chair staring at the young woman he considered a daughter.

"My life theirs. Bring all of them back and you can torment me for an eternity," she pleaded.

He thought on a moment and then smiled, sitting forward and clapping his hands.

"You need to agree to this, my child. You for them. Give me all of your essences to do with as I wish and I will set them all free, even those who are no longer alive." The jet black haired kitsune smiled at her but with a strange look of intrigue in his eyes.

Below, Angelica and Amara was glaring up at their father with horror in their eyes.

"Please don't do this," Amara begged with tears streaming from her eyes. Artemis looked down at his daughter and pursed his lips.

"I gave my girls my word that you would survive this. You bring them happiness," he admitted and tapped his lips.

"Make them forget me. They had me for so many lifetimes, but now they deserve to be free too," Raven choked and look down at them.

Artemis was moved by how selfless the dragoness was. After a lifetime, he finally agreed and waved his hands, causing Raven to take human form again. A silver blue micro vortex appeared between them, and he offered her a soft smile. She looked down at them and smiled before motioning forward and being sucked into the light. Her body immediately disintegrated, and every person on the ground cried out—some out loud and others with silent despair.

Artemis then appeared in front of them.

"Well, that was unexpected to end the games, but the price has been paid. Don't waste your freedom," he said and snapped his fingers.

At once, the playground was empty and Artemis had returned his stolen souls to the real world.